


Disobedience

by N N West (raynewton)



Category: The Professionals
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 09:17:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1341751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raynewton/pseuds/N%20N%20West
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aftermath of Ojuka. Bodie cares for Doyle</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disobedience

**Author's Note:**

> Cowley knows all

Disobedience by NN West

 

"Doyle, get those wrists checked out. Bodie, I'll see you when I'm good and ready. Murphy, with me." Cowley turned on his heel, his stiff back radiating disapproval as he marched off down the corridor.

Murphy dared their master's wrath to spare his friends a commiserating glance. "Cowley does not love you," he observed sorrowfully.

"Tell me about it." Bodie sounded more resigned than surprised. "Better not keep him waiting, Murph. Come on, Scruff, let's get you patched up before you start dripping blood on the nice clean floors."

Murphy watched them head upstairs, bickering and complaining as they so often did, but he noticed that they walked closely together, shoulders brushing, and that when Doyle seemed to miss a step and stagger slightly Bodie's hand was already in the small of his back offering support; for his part Doyle accepted the help that Murphy was sure would have been rejected from anyone else.

Turning to follow Cowley, Murphy admitted to himself that watching the pair sometimes made him question his own preference for working solo. It must be nice to have someone so close… Nah, Bodie and Doyle were a one-off; much as he'd like the same level of support he was very aware of just how rare it was. He was better alone. Pity, though…

The duty doctor already had a patient when they reached the medical bay. After a swift but thorough inspection of Doyle's wrists she offered,

"Nasty, but not too serious. You can wait until I'm finished here, or if you like, I'm sure Bodie can patch you up."

Doyle peered thoughtfully at the burns and rope marks. "Yeah, looks worse than it is. Get on with it, Bodie - I'm gasping for a cuppa."

"And I'm pretty sure Jax left some Kit-Kats in his locker." Bodie rubbed his hands gleefully. "Could do with some chocolate about now." 

"So what's new about that?"

Bodie loftily ignored the muttered comment as he assembled the supplies he would need, but his hands were very gentle as he carefully cleaned dressed and bandaged the swollen wrists.

"If it gives you any trouble, let me know right away," the doctor called as they left. "Otherwise, come in tomorrow and I'll have a look. And Doyle, I'm trusting you to be sensible."

"I'm not the fool around here," Doyle said, and the quiet anger in his voice brought Bodie's head up sharply. "Not here," he added. "I want that tea, and then you've got some explaining to do."

Anson and McCabe were slumped in chairs in the VIP lounge when Bodie and Doyle arrived. With a glance at his partner that promised, "Later," Doyle threw himself full length onto the couch and stretched luxuriously. "Make it good and strong," he ordered, "and to save you asking my last slave died of boredom - wouldn't want that to happen to you."  
Inspecting the mugs carefully to be sure of using clean ones, Bodie turned his attention to brewing the tea. "You could get the… you know," he suggested, nodding towards Jax's locker.

"Too comfortable to move," Doyle yawned. "Besides, it wouldn't be right. Steal a poor man's chocolate," he added with an air of virtue- a quality that, if he possessed it, Bodie had never been privileged to witness.

"Chocolate?" McCabe surfaced from the depths of introspection. "Where? What kind? Can I have some?"

"Too late, old son," Anson dashed his hopes. "Time we were moving. See you later."

"Thought they'd never leave." Bodie thrust a mug of lethally strong tea into Doyle's hands and applied himself to the door of Jax's locker, turning round triumphantly with a handful of red and silver wrapped bars. "Here you go," he added, tossing one into Doyle's lap. For a moment he waited, looking down at the man who could arouse in him such a heady blend of irritation, amusement and lust, before he settled himself in the armchair that McCabe had just vacated and applied himself to the enjoyment of his tea and Kit Kat.

From his sprawled position on the couch Doyle watched him appreciatively. No-one could savour a bar of chocolate quite so thoroughly as Bodie. The silver paper was carefully peeled away, a finger broken off, and a pink tongue emerged to lick delicately along and around the bar as the blue eyes half-closed in concentration on his enjoyment.

An association of ideas led Doyle to remembering just what else that talented tongue could do; a reminiscent smile curved his lips before common sense woke and reminded him that the agents' rest room was not the best place to dwell on Bodie's more esoteric skills, so he swung his feet to the floor to sit upright and swallow a long draught of tea.

"Oi!" he complained a moment later. "Greedy pig - that's your second Kit Kat!"

A wounded gaze rose to his. "I'm hungry," Bodie said plaintively.

"You always are," Doyle sighed; then his tone hardened. "All right, spill it, sunshine. What the hell were you playing at back there? Suddenly gone soft, have I? You reckon I couldn't cope with Parker? Got free on my own, didn't I? Was that it? Poor little ex-copper couldn't cope with the big bad merc?"

"No."

"No? No what? No, I couldn't cope, or no, that's not what you thought?"

Silence.

"Bodie, answer me. Come on, we've got to talk about it, and preferably before we have to face the Cow. Look, I'm trying not to be angry here, but I need to know what was going through that convoluted brain of yours."

"The girl."

"What girl?"

"At the hotel." Bodie carefully set his mug on the floor and concentrated all his attention on the sheet of silver paper, folding and re-folding it as he spoke. "Don't even know her name. Pretty, she was, and young. Parker didn't have to do that - kill her, I mean. If he could do that to her, what could he do to you? Didn't want to risk it. Couldn't"

"Bodie, it's part and parcel of the job, you know that. Could happen any day, to either of us. We can't let it stop us. We always said we wouldn't let our relationship get in the way of what needs to be done - that if the Cow ever found out about us we could point to how we'd never let it interfere with the job. You going back on that, Sunshine, because if you are it's something we need to work out together."

"No, 'snot that." 

Bodie's eyes rose, and the haunted expression clouding the beautiful blue gaze brought Doyle to his knees at Bodie's feet, reaching out to clasp his mate's suddenly trembling hands.

"Ah, don't look like that, love," he begged. "Just tell me about it."

"Was just… I *knew * what Parker was like, knew what he could and would do. There was no need to wait - the Cow had everything wrapped up. Ojuka was safe, there was no way out for the others, but he kept holding off, and all I could think of was that you were in there with a right nutter and no back-up. You could have been killed…"

"But it's something we've got to face, Bodie. I could be killed, or you could, at any time. We can't do our jobs properly if we're always looking over our shoulders."

"Told you, that wasn't it." Bodie freed a hand to brush his little finger over Doyle's broken cheekbone. "If you were killed in a fire fight, or an accident, well, I don't know what I'd do afterwards, how I'd cope, but I do know I'd go on and finish the job. That much I owe to what you are, what we have together. But this time… it was the waste, Ray. Going in early wasn't going to make any difference, and I knew that. Wasn't going to take the risk of waiting just because the Cow said so. And that's what I'll tell him."

Doyle smiled, catching Bodie's hand and lifting it to his lips. "Then I'll tell him I'd have done the same thing in your shoes. Love you, sunshine."

Time and place forgotten, they needed their moment. Lips met as arms clutched tightly, the rising tide of passion and desire acknowledged but reluctantly postponed. Parting at last, Doyle touched his fingers lightly to Bodie's mouth then stepped back.

"Right, gannet, where's the rest of that chocolate?"

 

In the corridor Cowley quickly stepped back from his vantage point at the door, smiling wryly. They still didn't realise that he knew about their relationship, and had done probably almost as soon as they did. The official line be damned, he wasn't going to lose his two best men to political correctness. And yes, they were his best. Good lads. He'd trained them well. Oh, he'd been angry with Bodie for his disobedience, but Cowley had not reached his position by rigid adherence to rules. Bodie had disobeyed an order, but his reasoning had been sound, not solely motivated by personal considerations. He'd known the full extent of Parker's evil, and had acted accordingly - and that ability to think for themselves when necessary, to judge the situation and adapt to fit it, was one of the qualities that made Bodie and Doyle so valuable.

Returning to his office, Cowley smiled thinly as he noted the observation in Bodie's file. Then there was also the financial side to consider. When relocation was due they could be assigned a double flat - it would drive them crazy wondering why - and the resulting saving would look well in the budget. After all, money didn't grow on trees, and if mony a mickle macked a muckle, maybe there were other pairings who could be doubled up? Hmmm…


End file.
